From chaos to order: The emergence of the status structure and its organizational consequences

Status has a long history as an issue of inquiry in the organization literature. However, most previous status studies focus on examining the consequences of organizational status positions by assuming the existence of the status structure. Consequently, little is know how the status structure as a systemic level property affects organizations as it emerges and evolves in a field. To address this issue, we provide a dynamic construct of the status structure as the extent to which distinctive and stable status positions or categories form. We then hypothesize that there is a curvilinear relationship between the status structure and organizational life chance. Our historical analysis of American college football major bowls from 1902 to 2004 yields strong support to our hypothesis. We conclude by urging future research to continue to examine the dynamics of the status structure and its organizational consequences.